A new must-have accessory is adorning the wrists of tweens and teens: the Rainbow Loom
bangle.

Children make the colorful bracelets using small rubber bands and a loom.

With more than 1 million Rainbow Looms sold to date, the craze has drawn comparisons to the
Beanie Babies phenomenon of the 1990s.

“It’s absolutely unbelievable,” said Greg Larson, owner of Larson’s Toys and Games at the Shops
on Lane Avenue. “I don’t even know how many to order. I think I’ve got enough, and they sell out in
a day.”

Last week, he said, a shipment of 72 looms arrived at the Upper Arlington store; it didn’t last
two days.

The loom, which costs $15.99 to $17.99, has three rows of 13 pegs each. A user loops rubber
bands around the pegs to weave myriad patterns — from a simple fishtail to elaborate floral
designs. A loom is packaged with a bag of 600 colored bands, enough for about two dozen
bracelets.

Cheong Choon Ng, a former car-safety tester who lives in Detroit, created the loom in 2010 so he
could make bracelets with his two young daughters.

Formerly called Twistz Bandz, the product struggled online, then caught a break last year when
the owner of a Learning Express Toys store, a Massachusetts-based chain with 130 franchises, placed
an order.

Now, the crafty toy is carried in more than 600 outlets, including Learning Express and Michaels
stores as well as specialty shops nationwide.

The loom is selling about 10 times better than the previous best-selling children’s product at
the 1,100-store Michaels chain, said executive Philo Pappas, who declined to identify the previous
product.

“Kids get to be creative and make personalized items to wear themselves or share with friends,”
Pappas said by email.

Larson’s began selling Rainbow Looms in May, Larson said, but has only recently struggled to
keep them in stock.

“It’s really been since the kids went back to school that it’s taken off,” he said. “They’re
seeing all the other kids with bracelets.”

“All my other friends had it,” said the 11-year-old, who found hers at the Michaels store at
Easton Town Center.

She has mastered two patterns and made six bracelets — four that she wears to Genoa Middle
School and two that she has given to friends. (Bracelet trading, it turns out, is part of the
appeal.)

Besides bracelets, the loom is used to make rings, necklaces, key chains and hair ties.

The craft, Riley noted, has plenty of upsides: “It’s calming, it doesn’t take too much time, and
it’s not hard.”

Her mother, DebbieLee Dougherty, likes Rainbow Loom because it is mess-free and keeps her
daughter away from the iPad and television.

Mess, though, can be a relative term.

Francene Hill has found bands all over her Worthington home since daughter Adina received a loom
in March.

Adina, 8, initially wasn’t sure what to do with it, her mother said, but, since her friends at
Evening Street Elementary School began using one, “She’s obsessed.

“The girls all do it at recess,” Mrs. Hill said. “Now, everyone has one. The boys even wear
them.”

As do adults.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was photographed wearing Rainbow Loom creations recently, and
Connie Jacob, owner of Learning Express stores in Worthington and New Albany, spotted bracelets on
a woman who recently sang the national anthem for a
Monday Night Football game.

“It’s touched everyone from the kids making them to the people being gifted the cute bracelets,”
she said.

Parents are buying refills of bands by the thousands, said Jacob, whose stores sell 36
varieties.

She has been monitoring the trend closely, she said, since her stores began selling the loom in
November.

She’s curious about the product’s ceiling.

“I keep on thinking it’s big — that it can’t get any bigger,” Jacob said. “But

I anticipate we’ll be seeing lots of Rainbow bracelets going into 2014.”